Throwback Thursday - Floppu Tech

This weeks throwback is brought to you by the good old horrendously storage inefficient floppy disk.

Anyone else use them as coasters now?




Published: 10 September 2015

Throwback Thursday - Oxnard Public Library Staff

This weeks Throwback is from the Oxnard Public Library. Entitled Oxnard Public Library Staff, the image has no known date how going by the fantastic outfits we can hazard a guess…



The complete Oxnard Public Library online photo collection is availablehere.

Published: 2 September 2015

Throwback Thursday - 1987 Sydney Law Firm Librarians Salary Survey

This weeks Throwback is to 17 March 1987 and the release of the 1987 Sydney Law Firm Librarians Salary Survey.

Prepared by the Sydney Law Firm Librarian Group, the survey included the below results.

Throwback Thursday - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No its a Librarian Action figure

This weeks Throwback is brought to you by ALLA member Carolyn Kearney.

Back in 2003, Carolyn received The Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure! as a gift from a lawyer colleague.
As Carolyn Thowbacks: “Naturally, she caused controversy when she was first on sale, for reinforcing librarian stereotypes.

But I chose to accept the gift as an ironic comment on the stereotype, because she didn’t act like or resemble me in any way… I think!

At least I never got her out to use her shushing action on the senior lawyers in meetings, although now I wish I had.

She is still in her original wrapping sitting on my bookshelf at home.”

Throwback Thursday - Instant-ish Communication

Before email and before fax – there was Telex. This weeks throwback is brought to you by Telex.

Throwback Thursday - Law and the Superhighway

After a few weeks hiatus, this weeks throwback is from The Australian published on 30 August 1994:

Throwback Thursday -AALL Spectrum, Feb 2001

There are some thing that change and some things that stay the same.

One of those things that stay the same within the Law Library industry is change.

Whilst the focus or triggers for change evolve the necessity for Law Librarians to adopt and adapt to change remains a constant as evidenced in this week’s Throwback Thursday, the February 2001 edition of AALL’s Spectrum.

The complete issue is available on the AALL website.

For the latest changes in the American Law Library industry take a look at the February 2015 edition available here.

Throwback Thursday - Building your law library

After a brief hiatus the Throwback Thursday is back!

In the first throwback for 2015 we are travelling back to 1988 with Mickie A. Voges Buliding your law library: A step by step guide. 

Published by the American Bar Association, the text provides you with the ins and outs of law libraries from acquiring legal materials to networking and keeping up to date with new technology.

Throwback Thursday - Image bases information - The next step

This Throwback we are in April 1988 with Australian Legal Practice (Volume 1, Number 7) and Phillip Reynolds’ article Image Based Information – the Next Step.

“Information shared becomes knowledge. Information not shared becomes information marooned on an island. The competitive advantage depends upon better use of the information a firm collects today, but cannot use conveniently”

The article was written on the edge of computers takeover of the working environment. Just to provide some perspective of just how different it was here are some statistics from the article:

• 95% of all information was still paper based
• Clerical and support staff spent on average 4 hours a week looking for misplaced, mislaid or misfiled documents
• Executive officers spent on average 3 hours a week looking for documents.

In light of this less than ideal situation Reynolds look to the increasing functionality of computers for the answer. Contrasted with the storage and updating capabilities of paper and microfilm Reynolds advocates the adoption of imaging technology (an rightly so). Reynolds recommends that future technology acquisitions include not only word and data processing but also image functionality.

Throwback Thursday - What the future holds - Legal IT, Feb 2003

This week's Throwback Thursday, we reflect upon the information technology sector with the February 2003 issue of Legal IT and Kieran Flatt’s article What the future holds. 

Flatt’s article reports on the results of a Legal IT and Open Orchards joint survey into law firm’s technology buying trends. Based upon the responses from 52 senior technologists from UK top 100 firms (the majority of respondents) and leading firms in Australia and the United Kingdom on investment trends in: 

• hardware – laptops are starting to represent a significant investment for legal IT departments
• software and services – practice management systems are the primary focus for investment, and
• communication systems – the battle between the PDA and the smart phone continues however the PDA remains more popular.

The article also includes forecasts from Richard Susskind, author of The End of Lawyers and Commoditising Law. Sharing his predictions for investment trends in the years ahead, Susskind’s perspective back in 2003 appears to be dramatically different to that expressed in his more recent works. Predicting the consolidation of IT investment, Susskind encourages more steady and measured action on the part of law firms noting that:

“law firms have generally been too quick to move on to the next thing when they could more effectively focus on what they have already bought”

Throwback Thursday - The American Law Librarian World in May 1999

What was the American Association of Law Librarians thinking about in May 1999?

The obvious topic of conversation was Y2K preparedness (but hey let’s not be too mean about that). One thing that they were also talking about was the difficulty in creating management support for eLibrary positions.

In Using basic rules to win management support, Judith Meadows (then) Director of the State Law Library of Montana discussed the struggle associated with gaining management support for a eLibrary position and then getting that through State Parliament.

Recognising the increasing dependence of the library on automated systems and services Judith put together a business case for the creation of an electronic services librarian and successfully came out the other side with approval. Looking back on the process Judith made three key hiring strategies which remain relevant today when creating a business cases of technology-focused staff:

• Be able to identify what library functions are unmet, and how that impacts upon library operations
• Align the library goals with the organisations technology staff. Make them your ally, a person who can argue your needs not a block to your requests
• Its easiest not to fight the good fight alone.

By Alex Cato

Research Librarian and ALLA NSW Web and Social Media Co-ordinator.

Throwback Thursday - What knowledge Management was talking about in 2000

We entered a new millennium, survived the Y2K, the Tate Gallery opened in London, everyone is playing on their Playstation 2’s that got released in March and although the event didn’t happen till September Sydney was already rife with Olympic fever.

This weeks Throwback Thursday we revisit May 2000 and Volume 3 Issue 8 of Knowledge Management.

Like with last weeks Throwback many of the same challenges in the knowledge management industry continue to face the industry 14 years on. Just how much is the same is encapsulated in the summary of David Snowden and James Lukes article. The Knowledge Salient – Intelligence & Information warfare in an age of uncertainty:

“In the Information Age, the amount of data available, together with the increasing sophistication of analysis techniques, provides both threat and opportunity for commercial organisations.”

For those looking to see the commonalities between now and 14 years ago the complete article is available here.

Alex Cato
Research Librarian and ALLA NSW Social Media Co-ordinator

Throwback Thursday - What the industry was talking about two decades ago

May 1994, Paul Keating was PM, Blue Heelers was in its fourth month, and Rodney Hall’s The Grisly Wife won the Miles Franklin literary award.

But what was on minds of librarians in 1994? Two decades ago the May 1994 edition of the Australian Library Journal considered the power of knowledge. Looking at the articles, it appears that not much has changed.

Focusing upon the book publishing industry, Jenny Burn and Mark Tredinnick considered how knowledge is power when it comes to pre-empting clients information needs.

In the technology space, Margaret Colmer in her article Information Technology addressed the rise of information as an economic commodity and the cost of information and information democracy.

Applying the Maori concept of mana, Jennifer Cram discussed the power of knowledge and empowerment of librarians in the face of huge problems be they research, information management based or professional development focused.

Whilst some of the terms have changed, I was struck by how much has remained the same. As an industry we continue to embrace and battle with the power of knowledge and the critical role libraries have to play in the distribution and democratisation of this power. I suspect in the next ten years this won’t change.

By Alex Cato
Research Librarian and ALLA NSW Social Media Co-ordinator

Throwback Thursday - When the card catalogues were still warm in their graves

Stepping back to a time when the card catalogue was the latest thing to be archived this weeks Throwback Thursday is a nod to those first computer based catalogues.

Appearing in library’s around the globe in the 1980’s these machines were the first digital disruptive technology to grace the Library and Information Services Industry. We ‘championed’ the catalogue and since then have never looked back.

Published: 13 March 2014

Throwback Thursday - When the Library came to you on four wheels

This weeks Throwback is to the time of bookmobiles. A time when the library came to but on four wheels not through an internet connection.

The photo is taken from the Louisiana Digital Library and pictures Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis and State Librarian Sallie Farrell with the Louisiana State Library Bookmobile. (http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/LHP/id/7955)

Published: 6 March 2014

Throwback Thursday - Welcome Librarions

This weeks throwback Thursday is a fantastic photo from 1968 from the fantastic tumblr I work at a public library.

Be sure to take a look at the tumblr or follow them on twitter @iworkatalibrary

 Published: 30 January 2014

Winner of the Throwback Crown

Congratulations to Elizabeth Langeveldt winner of the first ever Throwback Crown! 

This months Crown appears in the ‘The Holy Court’ written by Nicholas Caussin and published in 1663.

Image source: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Caussin-HolyCourt/pages/637-Title-Page-detail-Crown/  

Published: 24 January 2014

Throwback Thursday - The Librarian and Reference Queries

Today’s Throwback Thursday is a test. 

The test comes from The Librarian and Reference Queries  written by Gerald Jahoda and Judith Schiek Braunagel in 1980.

The first person to answer all five ‘practice reference queries’ (as written by the wonderful Gerald and Judith) will be this months Throwback champion and win the amazing virtual crown made of real kilobytes!

1) With whom did the phrase “something for nothing” originate?

2) What is arterosclerosis?

3) What determines the date of Easter?

4) How many books were written by Zane Grey? 

5) Can you translate this French phrase ‘a pleins bords’?

Don’t miss out on your chance to be the Throwback Champion, be quick and submit your answers in the comments field!

Published: 23 January 2014

Throwback Thursday - Selecting Materials for Libraries by Broadus

This week we are visiting 1981 and the challenges faced by collection librarians with the second edition of Selecting Materials For Libraries by Robert Broadus.

Do you think the challenges are the same? What’s changed? What’s stayed the same?

Posted: 16 January 2014

Throwback Thursday - Manual of Law Librarianship

The first throwback of 2014 comes from 1987. Edited by Elizabeth M. Moys some guidance from the 2nd edition of the Manual of Law Librarianship still rings true today…some not so much.

Posted: 9 January 2014